After beating the likes of Australia, Bangladesh and New Zealand, India Women are set to take on Sri Lanka Women in their final game of Group A of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 on February 29 (Saturday). The match will be broadcast on the Star Sports Network and live streaming will be available on Hotstar. The two teams will lock horns at Junction Oval, Melbourne and will begin at 09:30 HRS IST. Catch all the action on our live blog.
India triumphed over the White Ferns (but only by a whisker) in their third game on Thursday and in the process sealed their semi-final berth in the tournament. It was expected to be a tough game, given that the odds were stacked against India, but they overcame it to register the third successive victory on the trot.
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Their last group stage encounter would be with familiar foes Sri Lanka, against whom they enjoy a comfortable record in T20Is (out of the 17 games played, India have won 13 and one game has yielded no result).
Sri Lanka’s chances in their earlier games against Australia and New Zealand were spoiled more by their lacklustre fielding and the inability to capitalize on opportunities presented by their opponents.
Skipper Chamari Atapattu is no stranger to Australia, having registered two centuries during Sri Lanka’s tour late last year. She has been in good form this tournament as well, with 91 runs from her first two games. Another blessing during these troubled times for the Lankans has been the prolific swing bowling from Udeshika Prabodhani, whose economy rate in the first two games was nothing short of bamboozling.
Looking to finish their group stage on a high, team India would do well to be wary of the twin troubles that Atapattu and Prabodhani can pose to their ambitions.
Squads:
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Taniya Bhatia (WK), Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav
Sri Lanka: Chamari Atapattu (C), Dilani Manodara (WK), Harshitha Madavi, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Ama Kanchana, Hansima Karunaratne, Achini Kulasuriya, Sugandika Kumari, Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sathya Sandeepani, Anushka Sanjeewani, Shashikala Siriwardene, Umesha Thimashini
